Sword and shield. (Clinton, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1887-01-29
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S0II0I.IiIlIjOjilI''ISi mo IS Mines: IS:
CHAPTER Nv.
. ELEPHANT HUNT.
BY II. RIDER HAGGARD.
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~ CHAPTER ".
Fo 9l"iaDi AN ELEPHANT HUNT. HI mo-
oeNow Il do not propose to narrate at full
length all the incidents Of our long journey
ND to Sitanda's Kraal. near the junction Of
fheaf kahka ana KalukWe figelSg ~ tourney
i0f more thanaa Thousand miles from Durban,
the last three hundred or so of which, Ow-
ing to the frequent presence OF the dreadful
s'tsetseD fly, whose bite is fatal to alIani-
mails except donkeys and men, we had to
make on foot y
We left Durham at the end Of January,
and it was i'm the second week of May that
we camped near Sitanda's Kraal. Our adj
! ventures on the way were many and various,
but as they were of the sort which befall
every African hunter, i shall not-withl one
exception, to be presently detailed-set them
down here, lest should render this history
too weariSOme 80 .s EaAEA8
AT Inyati, the outlying trading station in
the Matabele country, of which Lobengula
"a great scoundrel is king we, with many
regrets, parted from our comfortable wagon.
Only twelve oxen remained to us out of the
} beautiful span of twenty which had
bought at Durham. One we had lost from
the bite of cobra, three had perished from
poverty and the want of water, one had been
lost, and the other three had died from eat.
ing the poisonous herb called tulip" Five
more sckened from this cause, but we
managed to cure them with doses OF an in
fusion made by boiling down the tulip
leaves If administered in time, this is a
very effective antidote. The wagon and
oxen were left in the immediate charge of
, Coco and Tom, the driver and leader, both
of them trustworthy boys, requesting a
worthy Scotch missionary who lived in this
wild place to keep an eye to 1t. Then, ac-
: companied by Umbopa, Khiva, Ventvogel,
D and half dozen bearers whom we hired on
{ the spot, we started OF on foot upon our
wild quest Iremember we were all little
: silent on the occasion of that departure, and
Il / think that each Of us was wondering II we
e should ever see that Wag0n again; !; fer ny
Il part, never expected c k0f Wnlle Nf
: tramped on in silence, TIL Bmbopa, VINO was
marching in front, broke into Zulu chant
a about how some brave n lredof llIe anu
the tameness of thing ,Earted So8 into 3
great wilderness to find A9lnOds ex{sf die
6 and how, 10 and behola go
II Iaf sIltui Tie s~iIdeffie = - -
\ not a wilderness at all, 5eautl Il plaei
4 full of young wives1nd cattle, OF galn
u to hunt and enemies to ( sl pats'
e Then we all laughed ., ) took it for COOS
+ omen. He was cheeE1Hl savage was Um
bopa. in dignified sort of way, when h,
had not got one of his fits Of brooding, ant
e had wonderful knack of keeping one'
spirits up. We all got very fond of him.
And now for the one adventure was go
~ ing to treat myself to, for | do dearly love ;
2, hunting yarn.
! About a fortnight's march from hyatt, W.
came across a peculiarly beautiful bit
. fairly watered, wooded country. The kloof
il in the hills were covered with dense bush
!, "idoro" bush as the natives call it, and il
some places, with the 'wacht-een-beche'
= (wait-a-littlel thorn, and there were grea
g quantities Of the beautiful ''machabelF
y trees, laden with refreshing, yellow frui
with enormous stones. This tree is tn
e elephants favorite food, and there were no
e wanting signs that the great brutes wer'
about, for not only was their spoOr frequent
! but in many places the trees were broker
= down and even uprooted. The elephant is
r destructive feeder.
J. One evening, after days march, we cam
, to spot of peculiar lOvelineSs. At the foo
: of bush-clad hill was dry riVer-bed, Il
IS which. however, were to be found pools o.
O. crystal water all trodden round with the
footprints of game. Facing the hill was
park-like plain, where grew clumps OF nat
70 topped mimosa, varied with OccasiOna
glossy-leaved machabells, and all round wa
i the great sea of painless, silent bush.
As we emerged into this river-bed path w
suddenly started troop of tall giraffeS, VIII
galloped. or rather sailed off, with thei
IS strange gait, their tails screwed up owe
their backs. and their hoofs rattling like cas-
tanets. They were about three hundre'
IN yards from us, and therefore practically ou
of shot: but Good, who was walking ahead
and had an express loaded with solid bal
ty could not resist, but upped gun and let driV
NJ at the last, young cow. BY some extraol
dinary chance the ball struck it full on th
70 back of the neck, shattering the spinal CO.
of umn, and that giraffe went rolling head owe
), heels lust like a rabbit. never saw NOR
curious thing.
< Course itl' said Good-for am sorry
e. say he had habit of using strong languag
- when excited-contracted, no doubt, in tn
course of his nautical career; 'curse it! PV
OF killed him." es
"Ou, Bouwan," calculated the Kafrs
r. sou! our
oi They called Good 'Bougwan" (glasseye
ns because of his eyeglass. ~
q 'Oh, 'BougwanT" re-echoed Sir Henr
~ and I, and from that day Goods reputation
as a marvellous shot was established, at an
< rate among the Kafrs. Really he was ba
al one, but whenever he missed, we Overlooke
oA it for the sake of that giraffe.
Having sent some OF the ''boys' to cut o.
the best of the giraffe meat we went to wor
ed to build a 'scherm" near one Of the pool
NJ about a hundred yards to the right of i
i This is done by cutting quantity Of thor
VI bushes and laying them in the shape of
st circular hedge. Then the space inclosed
Is. smoothed, and dry tambouki grass, If oil
i tainable, is made into bed in the center
W and fire or fires lighted. eaUa Bas
'e. By the time the tscherm" was finished
TO the moon was coming up, and our dinner {
- giraffe steaks and roasted marTow-bones wa
- ready. How we enjoyed those marrow-bonel
though it was rather job to crack theml
i knovv ro oroafar luxury than giraffe marrow